Brown's win in MA

[ridgel]

Is this really a generational thing? Loyalty to Ted Kennedy seemed to be generational - when Mitt Romney ran against him in 1994, my mom, an early boomer, said that she would stick with Kennedy because of "women's issues" which maybe was code for abortion or maybe was just about equality, but struck me as an absolute insane reason to vote for anyone. I don't think any woman of my generation would feel or speak the same way.

There's a massive vacuum for any politician who puts American interests first - one of the downsides of the post WWII hegemony was that we always had to think of the other guy - the poor immigrant who's only coming to feed his family or the value of giving away the farm to a trade partner so that they could develop and enter the world order. That time has passed. It's ripe for a politician to tell China to stuff their trade surplus where it came from and to come back to the table when they're ready to enforce IP law and give U.S. companies equal access. And to tax Wall Street at 90% again unless they pump their profits back into the U.S. People are burning for a politician like that - hopefully they'll keep voting out the incumbents until we get one.

[OLD1953]

Pretty much what I was thinking when I read John's analysis. He was right, up to where he started thinking in terms of FDR or Teddy or JFK. That's not what I sense the electorate is looking for, the electorate is looking for Huey Long. And that's going to be a disaster.

[ridgel]

I agree - the populism is going to end in disaster. But the dominant political ideology of unchecked free trade, unlimited immigration, unchecked corporate vote buying has got to change. Obviously the ruling elite aren't going to change it themselves since they're the ones benefiting. So it's going to take a meltdown to force their hands - if it's forcible at all.

[gerald]

I agree - the populism is going to end in disaster. But the dominant political ideology of unchecked free trade, unlimited immigration, unchecked corporate vote buying has got to change. Obviously the ruling elite aren't going to change it themselves since they're the ones benefiting. So it's going to take a meltdown to force their hands - if it's forcible at all.

I agree regarding the "elites", there are a number of "black swan events" waiting in the wind, and when they occur
the changes will be is big as the reformation or the change from geocentric to heliocentric thinking.
This will be interesting, only when is the question.

[OLD1953]

And what the changes are. Between populism and corporate greed, the country is going to be in a bind.

I never thought I'd look forward to a regeneration event, but anything that stops the insanity of a country tearing itself apart for money, like a gang of kids fighting over the coins they found under a couch cushion, just about has to be an improvement. Yes, there'll be gas rationing and food rationing and possibly power blackouts and yes there'll be a lot of people killed, but anything short of total annihilation is better than the death of a thousand cuts.